Northamptonshire are hoping to sign a replacement for Jackson Bird following confirmation that the Australia Test seamer will be unavailable this season because of his back injury.

Bird has suffered a recurrence of the problem which restricted him to just one first-class appearance since last summer's Ashes Test at Chester-le-Street.

The 27-year-old will therefore be unable to feature, as had been planned, in the first six LV= Division One County Championship matches of the season for promoted Northamptonshire.

A club statement added: "Over the weekend, we have made an offer to another overseas bowler with Test Match experience and we hope we are at advanced stages of securing a signed contract for that player to join us from the start of the season, for both LV= County Championship and NatWest T20 Blast cricket."